Motor Gun Boat 81 is the only fully restored and operational Royal Navy Coastal Forces motor gunboat from World War II. Built in 1942 by the British Power Boat Company in Hythe, she was commissioned on July 11, 1942. Known as a “Spitfire of the seas,” she fought in the English Channel and North Sea, attacked enemy E-boats, escorted convoys, and took part in the D-Day landings at Omaha Beach (renumbered as MTB 416 later in the war). Design: 71.5 feet long with a double-diagonal mahogany side and triple-diagonal mahogany bottom hull. Here, seen on the Solent.